February 19, 2008

Is it October yet?

Although, here in Kansas City, it still feels like October (kinda chilly), we are many months away. Still, I am anxiously awaiting for October 2008 to arrive because that is when the Southwest Fox 2008 Conference will take place. Last year's Southwest Fox 2007 Conference (featuring EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about Microsoft Visual FoxPro) was the most attended ever; bucking the trend of reduced attendence at VFP conferences. There is no reason why this year's conference can't be even better. It was HIGHLY received by the attendees last year, and first time organizers, Tamar Granor, Rick Schummer, and Doug Hennig are in the process of building upon last year's success.

There are several ways in which the conference can be improved and one of them is to spread the word throughout the FoxPro community about the conference. It is in that spirit that I am pointing you to one of the pages on the ( Southwest Fox website ) that is specifically designed to assist community members in publicizing the conference, the ( "Promote the Conference" ) page. On that page, you will find several ways to help promote the conference and spread the VFP "Word".

I am particularly directing your eyeballs to the section displaying two animated banner ads. One (or both) of these banner ads will easily fit onto a page of anyone's website and/or blog. You can cut and paste the HTML code provided to easily display the banners. It would be a genuinely unselfish gesture if each and everyone of you reading this blog would take the time to post an ad (as well as pass along the URL to the promotion page to others likely to post an ad). Incidentally, if you don't, it will reflect on your parents and a big, black checkmark will go on your permanent record. Seriously, anyone who loves Fox and wants to see it continue to flourish is encouraged to post an ad banner. Your help in making the 2008 conference the best one yet will be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, if you are interested, the call has gone out to all those interested in being a speaker at the 2008 conference. Details are on the Southwest Fox website.

February 04, 2008

It Occurred to Me During the Super Bowl

The world is coming to an end as we know it. It is as simple as that. I saw proof-positive of that last Saturday. I will tell you why I know this to be true, but before I do, I find myself in the enviable position of being able to solve the rest of the world’s problems. For the sake of this blog, the “world” will be considered to be the “computer” world; not the world of upcoming elections, ongoing military battles, or whether or not the current writer’s strike will end in time for “Two and a Half Men” to resume taping.

Nostradamus

My gain is your gain. My new-found wisdom will allow you to follow my all-knowing, life-changing decisions.** Again, I remind you that my epiphany is based on the fact that I observed something that convinced me that the world is soon coming to an end. This mere fact makes “seeing the future” very easy (not to mention unnecessary). Anyway...

XP or Vista?Upgrade downward to XP, but then, does it really matter? The world will end before either of the next service packs are out for either one.

Should I get more RAM? Logically, you can never have too much RAM although most likely, under most circumstances, you can’t use more than about 3.5 gig. Realistically, however, I would refrain from getting more RAM because it will just make things appear to move faster and therefore, you will reach the end of the world more quickly. IMO, downgrade to 16 meg. of RAM and S-L-O-W things down to a crawl.

Paper or plastic? Tough call, but then it doesn’t have to be. Pick one and get on with life, it will be over soon. I suppose from an altruistic standpoint, we might help the next inhabitants of this big, blue marble by leaving as many trees around as we can.

VFP SP1 or VFP SP2? VFP SP1. In six months if the world is still running and your applications are too, then you can BEGIN to worry about SP2. Until then, count on the apps not needing any enhancements.

Davetradamus

So, that should just about wrap up any big questions that may be bothering you. If you think I have missed any, just leave a comment, but make it quick; we don’t have much time. Oh yes, what has enabled me to play Nostradamus for the day?I was grocery shopping on Saturday buying my usual collection of health food; licorice Nibs, Dorito Cool Ranch chips, and hot dogs. I ALWAYS have a problem with the hot dogs. Since the beginning of mankind, it has been virtually impossible to buy the same number of buns (in one package) as there are hot dogs in one package. I mean, after all, who wants to end up with either left over buns or left over hot dogs? Not me! Right now you are, I’ll bet, assuming that I finally found eight buns and eight hot dogs or the mother lode, ten buns and ten dogs. Nope. What I found was something even rarer than being able to match up the same number of buns and dogs. What I found was (are you sitting down?) a package of hot dogs containing SEVEN hot dogs. SEVEN! Now, that’s just not right. It had to be a fluke, but when I checked every one of the packages of that brand (I am purposely avoiding giving out their name to save them the embarrassment, but will send it to you under private e-mail if you would like), indeed, each package contained SEVEN hot dogs. If that isn’t proof-positive the world is coming to an end, I don’t know what is. Be smart. Do not ignore my insight. The end is near.

**Limit of responsibility – Note that your mileage may vary. Blindly following my new insight may be harmful to your physical person, your savings, your personal relationships, or your bowling average. The new-found wisdom expressed in this blog in no way reflects, one way or another, the feelings, wisdom, knowledge, explicit or implied by my employer, Visionpace (but boy, are they going to be sorry when they elect to not follow my advice). The observations are solely my own; no one else’s, and as such, I expect them to allow me to end up ruling the world (or something very, very close).